A Junk Bond Expert Takes In ‘Junk’

The play "Junk," by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Ayad Akhtar, is officially opening in New York City on November 2. But veteran high yield bond analyst Marty Fridson was there for previews and had some thoughts to share in a column published Tuesday on LCD News.

The play is a thinly veiled chronicle of the rise and fall of Michael Milken three decades ago.

Here’s Fridson's overall take:

The action is fast-paced, propelled by a device that harks back to Bye-Bye Birdie. Characters standing in Hollywood Squares–like compartments are represented as making telephone calls to one another as they face and address the audience. Considered purely as entertainment, I expect theatergoers will generally regard Junk as an enjoyable evening.

He does note there are some inaccuracies:

No one should expect Akhtar to portray the conflicts and debates of the 1980s high-yield market with absolute fidelity. Nevertheless, a few words are in order on behalf of those who are not familiar with the events and may mistakenly take what happens on stage too literally.

Here's four errors he highlights:

For one thing, the play uses the term “junk” as if that’s the actual term for the asset class. High yield is the original name, not a euphemism, as the play suggests.

He also disputed a scene that complains ATMs were “charging people to get cash.” Fridson notes that's not really how it works and adds that it was a real convenience when ATM machines became widely available -- well worth the fees.

The play makes “Merkin’s” wife (Milken’s) a finance whiz implying Milken was not. But Fridson writes:

Even Milken’s harshest critics acknowledged that in his early days on Wall Street he was an exceptionally astute and diligent credit analyst.

One error seems to irk him the most. Fridson writes:

"Junk" commits an error that cannot be excused on grounds of fictionalizing events of the 1980s. The playwright contends that John D. Rockefeller amassed a fortune of $250 billion. That truly would have made him an investment genius, as Forbes reports that the oil magnate’s 1918 net worth was only $1.2 billion ($21 billion in 2017 dollars).

Fridson, is chief investment officer of Lehmann Livian Fridson Advisors LLC, and a frequent source and sometimes contributor to Barron’s.

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A Junk Bond Expert Takes In ‘Junk’

The play &quot;Junk,&quot; by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Ayad Akhtar, is officially opening in New York City on November 2.

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